Milk bottle indicator



J. L. CHLFQCHLL MILK BOTTLE INbIcAToR Filed July 1^, 1947 m l A. ,n m l.A ,Smuf

HUFZCHJLL j l' y 223g? ATTORNEYS mmuwwmail @www f' J .i housewife.

Patented Jan. 11,* 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFICE e l 'e l 2,45asrzriuf l MILK BOTTLE INDICATOR .tseph ohnehin, seattle, Wash; e ApplicationJuly 145194:?,y lSerial No.' '7i'd0,874;f1

My invention comprises a device which a housewife may apply to astandard milk bottle, such as vshe returns empty to the dairy, for thepurpose of indicating to the deliveryman wh-at products, and how many ofeach, she desires leit Thus she need not write a note, or risk thesubsequent loss of such a note, but can conveniently Y indicate, whatsheV desires. From the deliveryv`the convenience with which-specialdelicacies can l be ordered.

Devices to the ends indicated have been-pro-l posed heretofore, butthese have been, so far as I am aware, of `such character as to make itnecessary either to apply them to the milk bottle while vholding `inindicating position `those indicators which it is desired to employ,which is awkward, or to move the indicating devices, after applicationto the bottle, into indicating position, and to secure them individuallyin such indicating position, which `also is tedious and diiicult.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a device ofthe general nature indicated, which can be merely dropped in place, orvery simply applied to the bottle, and which after `application to thebottle will permit the several individual indicators vto be moved by angerto indicating position, and will automatically retain them in suchindicating position, without the necessity of further action on the partof the It is a further object to provide a device of the generalcharacter indicated, which shall be simple and suiiciently cheap topermit it to be given away by the dairy to each customer as a premium orconvenience, and which will yet pay` ioritself many times over by theconvenience with which the housewife may indicate her desire foradditional or special products, which otherwise she might not bother toorder. e

It is a further object to provide a device -of this sort, which may be`stored at inl a drawer,

5 mains. (c1. 1165434.51 j

or in ysimilar fashion, and which v will occupy little space. e

Another object is the provision of sucha device which is sufficiently.rugged that vit will last for anindenite period.\

With such objects in mind, and others as will appear hereinafter, theinvention comprises the novel device for use in the manner indicated,such as is shown in a typical form in the accompanying drawings, andsuch as will be hereinafter more fully 'described and dened.

lligi-l-re l is an elevation of the device applied toa standard milkbottle, illustrating the initial nonindi-cating position-automaticallyassumed by all the tags, and the manner lof moving a tag into indicatingposition, andFigure 2 is a similar view .showing certain-tags in suchindicating position, and others in nonindicating position, asv

they would appearto the ,deliveryman Figurge is an isometricview,illustrating the devicel detached from a milk bottle.

The -formof the standard milk bottle 9 is well known and widely used. Ithas, abulbous mouth y9 l ,asomewhat reduced neckar?, sloping shoulders93, and a mainbody portion, 94, which is larger than any other particithe bottle, andwhich in particular is appreciablylargerthan the bulbousmouth Si `It is with this vtype of milk bottle that the present `deviceis intended to cooperate.

Ak plurality of tags, generally designatedl by the numeral l, butdesignated la, Ib, Ic, ldetc., `to distinguish them, differ from oneanother only in the nature of the indicia which they bear. The tagIc,vfor instance, calls for an extra quart of milk, the tag tc f oryapint of crearn,e etc. Preferably they are printedon both sides, and maybe otherwise distinguishable ata distance I' as by a characteristiccoloron one or both sides. These tags are oilightmateriah and may bemade ofsheet metal,A or, as is preferred, they mayr be .molded from plastic vmeJte-rial. Each one is promaterial. Preferably -ithas sornelittle weight,

`as related tothe combined mass of the tags. Only a few tags have beenillustrated, but in practice a largenumberwould ordinarily be employed.f The size of' ,should hegoi largeenough Vsize that it will slip,ireelyfoverthe bulbous mouth Sil ofthe standard milk bottle 9, yetsmallenough that it will not slip vdown over Athe sloping shoulders ,-93,butlwill Vlodge onthe "latter, and bethereby supported.

Figure 3 shows the ringZ and its various tags l as the same wouldappearjwith the ring supported in a horizontal plane, detached from thebottle. All the tags, by reason ofthe fact that they are moregreatlyweighted,byvtheir lon-ger end than by theirshorter end, willhangmore or less verticall'y downwardly,and` will swing freely upon thering. In this condition the ring is slipped over'the mouth of a bottleand comes to rest the ring 2.is oi` importance. Itl

she wants, and inserting her finger beneath the lower end of this tag,she merely lifts it up and iiips it over.- In so doing the ring 2 irstrises, in the manner shown in dot-dash lines in Figure 1, and thensettles back to its initial position, leaving the tag inverted, as arethe tags la and Il) in Figure 2, so that each tilts upwardly, its longerend projecting above the ring and its shorter end extending below thering. Oncethe tag has been tilted upwardly it is only necessary topermit it to slide downwardly along the sloping shoulders 93 of thebottle, and the weight and inward force of the ring holds the uptiltedtag flatwise .against the bott1e,`thereby securing it in its uptiltedindicating position. The engagement of the short end of the'tag belowthe ring, and' of its long end abovej the ring, withthe ring engagedwith thev now outer face of the 'taginterinediate the two ends, servesto flatten the tag and hold it against the bottle, and nothing more isneeded.

The deliveryman, upon1 arriving, notes which -tags are upturned, andfrom the written indicia thereon or by the characteristic color of eachis informed what products are wanted. He brings -these products tothedoor, removes the ring,

leaves it with theA delivered products, and carries port for theindicating device.

. While it has been indicated that the tags are Vpivoted nearer one endthan the other, this is merely a simple manner of eitecting theweighting of one end so that it will naturally and normally ference inlength as between the two ends. It must be'remembered, though, that thetag should be reasonably short at one end, at least, in order -that itmay be tilted over, in the manner shown in dot-dash lines in Figure 1,without unduly raising the tags and ring rfrom the shoulders of thebottle. One' of the advantages of the present device is that it may beslipped in place with no tags whatever in indicating position, andthereafter such tagsas indicate wanted products may be moved intoindicating position simply, and immediately left, without any specialprecautions being taken to secure them in their indicating position, solong as the device as a whole remains in place upon the milk bottle.

When the device is not in use all the tags can lie more or less in theplane of the ring, and the entire device may be laid in a drawer or hungon a hanger, where it will not occupy any particular amount of room, norbe conspicuous. or in the way. It is complete and unitary, and if theends of the ring are permanently secured there is no likelihood that anytagwill be detached or lost. It serves as a constant reminder to thehousewife of all the dairys products, and as a convenience whenevershe'desires to order some special product, or to vary her normal order.`

I claim as my invention:

l. For use upon a standard milk bottle, means to indicate wanted dairyproducts, comprising a ring oi a size large enough to slip over the topof the bottle but too small to slip down over its sloping shoulders, aplurality of vtags independently pivoted upon said ring, andeach havingits 4 mass located principally below the ring to hang normally pendanttherefrom, but including a portion extending above the ring, the ringtilting upwardly as a tag is tilted from its normal pendant position toa reversed, uptilted position, and settling back to hold such uptiltedtag in the latter position by pressure of ,the rings weight againstthebottle, each Vtag bearing indicia identifying wanted products'.-

2. For use upon a standard milk bottle, means to indicate wanted dairyproducts comprising a ring oiasize large enough to slip over the topaway the empty bottle which served as the supofthe bottle but too smallto slip down over its sloping shoulders, a plurality of dat, elongatedtags each bearing indicia indicating wanted products, transverselydisposed pivot means on each tag lying in the `general plane of the tag,nearer one end than the other, but still spaced from theshort end toleave such short end projecting, said tags having their pivot meansthreaded upon and rotatable about the ring, to hang normally pendanttherefrom, but retainable in'uptilted position by the inward pressure ofthe ring intermediate its ends, which are thereby urged against thebottle.

3.V For use upon a standard milk bottle, means to indicate wantedproducts comprising a support of a size to' extend about the neck of abottle, but too small to slip down over its sloping shoulders, yetreadily yieldable away from the bottle, -a plurality of tags mountedupon and for individual pivotal movement each relative to the support,and each weighted to hang normally pendant from the supportand eachshaped, in its-plane of swing,l to `engage the bottle at points spacedabove and below its pivot axis, whether in normalr pendant position orin uptilted posi- 'tion,'thereby to be self-retaining in either suchposition by inward pressure of the support, each such tag bearingindicia identifying an individual wanted product.

4. For u'se uponr a standard milk bottle, a support formed to extendmore than half -way around the neck of such abottle, to be therebysupported upon, butV for movement relative to such bottle, a pluralitylof individual indicators supported vupon and separately movable relativeto said support, from nonindicating to indicating position, each of saidindicators having a generally ilattenedface engageable with the bottleand held `th'e'reagainst by the bottle-supported support, vfor retentionin an indicating position, but

lly flattened` face engageable with the bottle and held there againstbythe bottle-supported support, for retention inan indicating position,but being biased to remain, unless moved intov s uch engagement, in`nonindicatingposition, and each indicator having Aa second attenedjfacelikewise engageable with the bottle to hold theindicator innonindicatingposition so long as the support isA fully engagedwith the bottle.

, JOSEPI-IL; CHURCHILL.

'1.21519 rfeteeclesited# l

